Pain Pill Shortage Drives Florida Addicts to Abuse Heroin

Once upon a time, not very long ago, Florida was a mecca for illegal use and sale of prescription medications. 8 out of 10 of the nation's top prescribing doctors lived within 300 miles and smack in the middle of the mega cities of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Several years ago these doctors lost their licenses to practice and with that nearly 300 pain clinics were shut down. Since then the popularity of abusing prescription medications has not changed much, however it has been progressively much harder to attain the medications.

Florida, similar to many other states has cracked down on multiple levels involving prescription pill abuse. Doctors and pharmacies are more closely monitored as to how much medication is being prescribed to a single person. There are stricter regulations as to what symptoms warrant a painkiller prescription for a patient. Hospitals and outpatient centers are also more highly trained in responding to prescription pill overdoses. Needless to say, law enforcement is putting great effort against the proliferating level of illegally obtain medications.

Currently, prescription pill abuse is second only to marijuana in terms of the most commonly abused substances, and causes more deaths annually than car accidents. So although the amount of people becoming addicted to this drug is very slowly declining, but declining nonetheless, there are still many individuals succumbing to addiction on a daily basis. However, a recent development has brought a new light to the prescription pill addiction scene.

Because the medications are becoming harder to come by, the price for them is driving up steeply. Ten years ago, oxycodone could be bought for about $2 or $3 per pill. Now, oxy goes for anything from $20 to $45. As most can imagine, this is an extremely expensive addiction to uphold and many are just not able to sustain it nowadays. Not even theft, telling lies, or prostitution is enough for any addict to support such a habit. But the "hard to get" situation of pills is not helping to eliminate the number of people abusing drugs; it is actually causing levels of heroin addiction to skyrocket.

Why is this? For one, heroin is a much more potent drug than most prescription painkillers. Although it causes much of the same symptoms and effects, those effects are more than ten times stronger. But along with this, heroin is much cheaper than the average single painkiller pill. A small batch of heroin can be bought for $20 and will last between three to five times longer than a single prescription pill.

Many other states have experienced a significant increase in heroin addiction and abuse due to the reduction in availability of prescription painkillers. Unfortunately, instead of seeking treatment and help for prescription medications, it has become the case that most addicts would prefer to switch to a potentially more dangerous and fatal drug.